Cliffs, Landscapes, and Galway

Another day, another beautiful opportunity to explore Ireland. Our itinerary today comprises visiting The Cliffs of Moher and Galway, with some views of the West Coast of Ireland in between. Once again, we are riding with Wild Rover Tours, as this day will include many steps, climbing, and tight stretches of road. Plus, this option provides us the opportunity to watch the beautiful scenery as we pass on by.

Driving along the roads of Ireland, I am glued to the windows watching the bright green pastures pass us by. If I were to describe the grass in Ireland, it truly is the color of the green Crayola crayon. Brendan, our tour guide (apologies Brendan if it is with an “e”, I forgot to ask), tells us about the main industries in Ireland, and how the farmland supports not only farming and consequential products from agricultural goods, but also horse racing! Hopefully, we can attend a race next time. Further down the road, we catch glimpses of at least a half a dozen castles. It is incredulous to believe how many castles existed here in Ireland.

Soon, the landscape changes from relatively gently rolling hills to an undulating landscape in Clare County. Golf courses are juxtaposed with nearby beaches as well as cliffs. Hard to imagine you could venture to all three of these spots in just a drive around town. On this journey, Ramón and I look forward to seeing The Cliffs of Moher. The Cliffs are over 320 million years old, and are over 700 feet tall in one of the areas we will be walking along. We are a tad late in the season to see the puffins, as they are usually by The Cliffs in June, but that is ok. At least I can always quote lines from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as this was a filming location for when Dumbledore and Harry go to find one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes.

Once off the bus, we head off to hike up the right-side of The Cliffs to get a picturesque view. In reality, it is hard to keep a normal pace as every other step I look to my left, pause, snap a few photos, stare for a while, then take another couple of steps until I decide I should pause to see another view. There are no bad vistas in my opinion of The Cliffs. Also, the area we are walking along is quite safe as there are large vertical slabs of stones in front of us before the last bits of the cliff’s edge. Only the flowers fluttering in the wind on the cliff’s edge are in danger of flying off.

Further along the walk, Ramón remarks how comical all the sheep roaming around The Cliffs are. Do they know how high above the water they are? Hopefully they avoid falling off into the water; wool is really heavy when wet. Back to the water, looking out over the Atlantic Ocean, we can actually see some of the Aran Islands. The residents living on these islands are well known for their mastery in knitting, especially sweaters. (which I love- I have a couple from there already.) Closer to us, more so at the feet of The Cliffs are a handful of sea stacks. These lone, smaller giants are equally entrancing as I wonder how these rocks separate from The Cliffs, and how long the stack has been separated from The Cliffs? Nevertheless, the stratification of the rock layers seen on the sea stack are beautiful. Something to ponder about as you walk along the path of The Cliffs of Moher.

After about an hour or so of walking, we stop by the visitor center and nearby outdoor stalls for a quick snack, restroom break, and a walk to see what is around. Though, we cannot stop ourselves from running back to The Cliffs one more time, walking along the left-handed path, before we must bolt to make it back onto the bus. While it would be lovely to look at this marvel forever, I do not want to be stranded on The Cliffs of Moher all night.

Our next site to look at is the Burren. This rockier side of the West Coast of Ireland is filled with brilliant jagged limestone landscapes, traditional Irish houses, and a “dwarf castle”. If you can, I suggest taking a stop here as it is breathtaking. Back in 2022 on the same tour, my friend and I were able to stop in the Burren to see the ”mini Cliffs of Moher”, yet that was when places weren’t filled to the brim with tourists due to the pandemic. Now, the roads are so full of cars on these slim roads that I can see why a day trip to The Cliffs of Moher, Galway and the Burren would be impossible. We are on what should be a one way road, but in reality is a jam packed two way road. At one point, we are stuck for 30 minutes as Brendan and our driver Joe magically direct and weave us through traffic so that we can squeeze through the tightest section of road, with all involved leaving unscathed. I am not kidding you, this experience was equivalent to drives through the mountainsides in Italy where you probably start to pray hoping you make it through. We all cheer once we have made it through the chaos and take a sigh of relief as we pass a mile’s worth of cars backed up from our encounter. Good luck to everyone behind us.

Now for our last stop, Galway. There is so much to explore here, especially with an international fair going on and streets filled with music and glee. I do not know where to start. Luckily, Brendan gives us a tour of the city, with sprinkles of spooky and heartfelt tales, including about the Claddagh Ring’s origin, as we dodge through the crowds. He gives us a laundry list of all the fabulous things we can see here after our tour. Hopefully, we can cross a couple off the list. To refuel, we stop into the beautiful Dáil Bar for a delicious bowl of seafood soup (I am not sorry, I cannot get enough of this soup!!), and a pint of Guinness. Paired with our great food is a view of the old-fashioned bar, with flowers sprinkled above and throughout the whole restaurant. If we could, I would stay for another drink. Yet, we must be off.

Back on the cobblestone streets, we meander through the international market. The stalls are filled with glittering glass sculptures, silver rings, and soaps galore. Rounding a corner, we see how far the festival continues as we meet the water’s edge. It feels like everyone in town is here as the atmosphere feels more like an outdoor party as we approach the Spanish Gate. We take a peek into the Galway City Museum as a reprieve from the warm weather, though it is just about closing time. Afterwards, we continue to stroll through the streets of Galway, reading signs, listening to street music, and looking out to the water. Sometimes, the best way to explore a city is just seeing where your feet take you.

When our time to leave has come, we wish to stay longer but hop back on the bus and gulp down a bottle of water. Fingers crossed the heatwave breaks soon. Brendan, now our DJ, plays Ed Sheeran’s Galway Girl as we leave the city for all of us to sing to. After that, we can tell our group has some humour as our music choices are all over the place. By the end of the day, our feet are weary, yet our hearts are happy and full by all the sites we have seen today. I think next time, we will rent a car to explore and linger longer in different parts of Ireland. In the meantime, I look forward to catching some z’s and enjoying an easy day tomorrow. Until next time.

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Once again, I would like to thank Wild Rover Tours for a fun filled adventure. In addition, if you would like some art inspired by this trip, feel free to check out my Etsy page where I made a watercolour of one of the sea stacks, and one of the castles seen on the road trip.